Fucked Up are this years hyped punk band. Anyone interested in alternative music will have seen a picture of Fucked Up's lead singer Damian Abraham (aka Pink Eyes) with his kit off, sweating profusely during a show somewhere in the world, in the same way that this time last year, we were seeing image after image of Gallows' frontman Frank Carter bleeding from the forehead on every magazine cover under the sun.Album opener ‘Son The Father' starts with a blissful, eerie flute solo before delving into the palm mute guitar that forms the backdrop to the entire song. Layer upon layer builds until you are on the edge of your seat waiting for the song to kick in. The melodic yet frantic punk that is to follow is no disappointment as the primal and raw vocals akin to Sick Of It All kick the album into gear perfectly.Between the relentless, energetic, angry lyrics in songs like ‘Magic Word' and the heavy dark explosive beat of ‘Days of Last' there is something almost endearing about the gentleness of ‘Golden Seal.' The psychedelic feedback and softly strummed guitar lulls you into a false sense of security before they return you to the album's bottle-breaking almost athemic sound. The gentle return is led by ‘Crooked Head,' which, despite Pink Eyes powerful throaty screams, has a quite emotive chord progression and melody, with the repeated chants of "Crooked Head" becoming lodged in your head. This slightly mellower streak continues through ‘No Ephinany' but before long we are back to the decisive punk formula of ‘Black Albino Bones' accompanied by Pink Eyes nearly unintelligible growls and bellows.The Chemistry of Common Life's songs are unified by motifs of birth, death, living and re-living as the album is a cacophony of pure chaotic punk and experimental esoteric melodies that keep Fucked Up a cut above the rest. The title track ‘The Chemistry of Common Life' finishes the record with what Fucked Up do best: a 7 minute melodic punk odyssey with the occasional epic instrumental break, brutal screams and unyielding feedback, not to mention the flute outro.Despite their juvenile name, The Chemistry of Common Life proves that Fucked Up are much more than just an idiotic, nihilistic punk band who leave trails of destruction and wrecked studios in their wake. 72%Fucked Up on MySpace